If you ever think about how websites and apps are created, you will know it all starts with just a simple idea and a way of thinking that is known as Design Thinking. Design Thinking approach focuses on understanding the users’ needs and finding solutions to their problems.
The report done by Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University highlights that companies that employed design thinking techniques experienced 30% improved customer satisfaction, and the time to market their products was reduced by 20% compared to the conventional techniques. Design-led organizations have posted double the return of the S&P Index over the last 10 years.
In this blog, we will discuss what design thinking is, why it is important, its process and frameworks, and how it is similar to agile methodology.
Table of Contents:
Design Thinking Definition
Design thinking is a problem-solving strategy that centers around the end user of the solution to the problem. The design thinking process involves the user understanding stage, followed by the identification of the main issue, creating ideas, and lastly prototyping and testing of the best solutions. Design thinking results in solutions satisfying people’s needs and wants in a way that is also efficient for them.
What Is the Importance of Design Thinking?
The importance of design thinking is as follows:
- Focuses on the user: It means that during the design thinking, people come up with solutions that meet the needs of the users and offer them solutions to their challenges.
- Encourages creativity: This approach pulls out creativity, which creates great ideas beyond the normal set of approaches.
- Iterative process: The Design Thinking cycle involves several iterations of ideas for solutions that need to be developed until a final solution is achieved.
- Solves real problems: Design thinking creates solutions that look at the real problems of the users and apply them in the real world.
- Leads to better outcomes: Design thinking creates great results since it involves user needs and multiple testing, and that leads to products and services that users find easier to use and achieve success.
The Five Stages of Design Thinking
The design process consists of five stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. With this approach, you can learn what the user wants, think of creative solutions, and improve the services step by step.
1. Empathize
In this first step, you try to understand the users you’re designing for. This means talking to them, observing them, and learning about their experiences, feelings, and problems. The main goal is to look at things from user’s perspective and understand what they want.
2. Define
Once you’ve collected all your ideas, it’s time to define the problem. This means organizing all the information you collected and finding out the main problems users face. You have to write a clear problem statement about what needs to be solved.
3. Ideate
Now it’s time to think of ideas! This is where you brainstorm and come up with as many solutions as you can. There are no bad ideas at this point. Just think about all the possible solutions to solve the problem.
4. Prototype
Here, you use your ideas and make simple prototypes like sketches or models. They don’t need to be perfect because they’re just basic versions of the product that help you understand how they might work. You can test them, see what works, and improve on them.
5. Test
Once you have a prototype, you test it with real users. You watch how they interact with it and get their feedback. With this, you will understand whether your ideas are correct or not to solve the problem, and if anything needs to be changed. Based on the feedback, you might go back and make changes or even come up with new ideas.
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Design Thinking Frameworks
Design thinking frameworks allow you to solve problems, but you have to focus on what users really want. These frameworks will help you understand the problems, come up with new ideas, and find solutions to solve the user’s problems. Let’s see what these frameworks are:
1. Head, Heart, and Hand by the American Institution of Graphic Arts (AIGA)
This framework is all about balancing three important areas: thinking, feeling, and doing.
- Head: In this step, you need to use your brain for researching about problem, understanding what is required, and thinking logically.
- Heart: In this step, you need to use your feelings, like understanding how the user feels, and make sure that your solution connects with them emotionally.
- Hand: This step is about action. You make simple prototypes of the product and see how they work.
2. Inspire, Ideate, Implement by IDEO
IDEO consists of three steps: Inspire, Ideate, and Implement.
- Implement: At last, you create solutions by using your ideas. Here, you make prototypes, test them with users and take feedback, and keep improving them until you have the final product.
- Inspire: First, you have to understand the users for whom you’re designing. You research their needs, challenges, and desires to understand the problem better.
- Ideate: Next, you come up with lots of ideas. Think about all the possible solutions to solve the problem. You don’t have to worry if they’re perfect or not.
3. The Double Diamond by the Design Council
The Double Diamond is a simple framework with four steps: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver.
- Discover: In this phase, you try to find the problem by collecting as much information as you can. It is all about understanding the issue and the people involved.
- Define: After learning about the problem, you define it clearly. You narrow down all the information and focus on the real challenge to solve.
- Develop: Now, you start coming up with ideas and solutions. You create different prototypes and test them to see what works.
- Deliver: The final step is to finalize the best solution. You have to keep testing and making changes until you have the final product.
The End Goal of Design Thinking
The final goal of design thinking is to help people solve their problems by creating efficient solutions. It allows you to develop useful, innovative ideas that work properly in the real world. Here’s what that looks like:
1. Solutions That Help People
The main purpose is to design things that can solve users’ problems. When designing, you have to consider the needs of the user and thinking that way will ensure the solution is something you can use.
2. Creative and New Ideas
Design Thinking makes it easy for the teams to come up with new and creative ideas. With it, you can think differently and find better solutions.
3. Practical Solutions
It’s not just about ideation, but about ensuring that they’re useful in practical life. Solutions ought to be feasible, practical, useful, and easy to use or grow.
4. Constant Improvement
Design Thinking is all about improving things over time. The product needs to be changed through multiple tests and getting feedback, so that it can be useful to the user’s changing needs.
5. Working Together
Design Thinking motivates teamwork and helps you to understand the users deeply. Once teams work as a whole, they can design a better solution that really helps.
Mindsets of Design Thinking: More Than a Procedure
Design Thinking isn’t just a process with steps – it’s also a way of thinking. To use it well, we need to have the right mindset. These mindsets help us look at problems in a new and better way. Let’s see what they are:
- Comfort with Uncertainty: Sometimes, you won’t know all the answers right away. That’s okay. You just need to keep exploring and find out all the things that need to be changed.
- Empathy: Empathy means how the users feel and what they need. You listen to them and try to see things from their point of view. This helps you make better solutions that truly help them.
- Collaboration: Design thinking main goal is to motivate the team to work together. When the whole team works and uses their skill together, they can find better solutions easily.
- Optimism: Optimism means being positive. It’s about believing that every problem can be solved. Instead of giving up, you keep trying to find a way.
- Experimentation: This means putting your ideas into design. If something doesn’t work, that’s okay – you learn from it and try again. You keep testing and improving.
- Bias Toward Action: This means you cannot only talk, you have to do something. You don’t have to wait to come up with the perfect idea, you can build and test, and make changes as you learn.
- Focus on People: It means always putting people first. The goal is to create things that really help the people you are designing for.
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Design Thinking vs. Agile Methodology
Design Thinking and Agile are two methods used to solve problems and make products. Design Thinking is all about creativity and trying to understand users’ needs. Agile is about rapid working and releasing software in small steps. Even though they are different, both help teams create smart, useful, and flexible solutions.
Similarities Between Design Thinking and Agile
1. Iterative Process
Design Thinking and Agile operate in small steps. Teams do not use a one-time perfection approach. Instead of doing that, they experiment with ideas, look for feedback, and make changes to them each time. This gradually enhances the product.
2. User-Centered
Both of these methods are very concerned about the user. They begin with understanding what people want and try to solve actual problems.
3. Collaboration and Teamwork
Working together is very important in both methods. Everyone with different ideas works together and helps each other find the best solution.
4. Flexibility and Adaptability
Both approaches allow teams to make changes along the way. If something new turns up or the feedback reveals a better option, then the team can learn fast and make an improvement to the solution.
Differences Between Design Thinking and Agile
| Parameter | Design Thinking | Agile |
| Origin | Design thinking is rooted mainly in design and draws on various fields: psychology, systems thinking, and business strategy. | It mainly starts with software development and draws influences from fields like manufacturing and project management. |
| Primary Focus | Problem-solving and innovative solutions | Efficient product delivery |
| Phases of Application | It usually starts with the project, whose main goal is to define its problem, test it, and select its solution. | It usually starts after a team has a clear solution. It involves delivering that solution and iterating on the live product continually. |
| Structure and Documentation | Fluid process, less formal, and relatively less documentation. | Structured and formal process with extensive documentation. |
| End Product | An idea or solution, usually with a prototype, may not be tangible. | A tangible, working product (usually in software) is shipped to end users. |
Conclusion
So far in this blog, we have learned about Design Thinking, what it is, why it is important, its process and frameworks, and how it is similar to agile methodology. Design thinking is a problem-solving strategy that centers around the end user of the solution to the problem. It helps designers, business owners, and creators come up with good ideas that make customers happy. When used with UI/UX design, it can make products that work well and look good. It’s a useful skill that can be used for many different problems and ideas. Also, check out our blog on DataStage Parallel Stages Group and Designing Jobs in the DataStage palette
What is Design Thinking – FAQs
Q1. What are the steps in Design Thinking?
Design Thinking has five simple steps:
Empathize – Learn what people need and what problems they have.
Define – Clearly say what the main problem is.
Ideate – Think of lots of ideas to solve the problem.
Prototype – Make a simple version of your idea.
Test – Try it out with people and see what works.
Q2. Who can use Design Thinking?
Anyone can use Design Thinking, you don’t have to be a designer. It’s for anyone who wants to solve problems in a smart and creative way – at school, work, hospitals, or anywhere else.
Q3. Why is Design Thinking important?
It helps make things that people really need and can use easily. It focuses on real problems and finds the best way to fix them.
Q4. How does Design Thinking help with new ideas?
It helps people think in creative ways and try out new ideas. By testing and improving, teams can find new and better solutions that really help people.
Q5. How do I start using Design Thinking?
Start by learning about the people who need help. Then follow the steps: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. You don’t need special skills – just work with others and try to make helpful solutions.